With this triumph, Kvitova is a provisional world no. 1, moving ahead of Simona Halep in the live WTA rankings, waiting for other three contenders for the throne to play their matches on Wednesday to see where she stands at the moment.
Petra finished the encounter with 25 winners and 24 unforced errors, leaving Ashleigh miles off that pace, landing only eight winners and 17 errors, staying in touch only in the second set before Kvitova brought the match home with a late break.
Barty suffered a setback already in the second game when Kvitova broke her and she found herself 5-1 down thanks to another break for Petra in game six when she placed a perfect backhand drop shot. A former Wimbledon champion secured the opener with a powerful hold in game seven and she saved break points at the start of the second set to find the rhythm on serve again and keep the pressure on Barty.
The Aussie raised her significantly after that poor opener and she dropped just four points in the first four service games in set number two, staying in touch until 4-4 before spraying a forehand error that sealed her fate in this match.
Serving for the match, Kvitova fired two winners at 30-30 to wrap up the triumph and achieve her biggest result in Melbourne, entering the last four where she will face Danielle Collins. <table
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